Full Circle
by Dark Maria
Summary: Part Four of Fair Winds of Cybertron. There's a thin line between justice and vengeance. When a group of Autobot vigilantes crosses that line, will Zephyr save her husband... or die with him? Read and review, please.
1. Before the storm

-1Here's Part 4 of Fair Winds of Cybertron, just like I said. I took the poll down (in case anyone noticed), and all other details can be found on my bio page.

As usual, I only own my original characters (duh), my versions of canon characters, the rampant OOC-ness you've all come to expect from my stuff, and whatever hasn't already been claimed by somebody else.

All other junk aside, here goes nothing.

RANDOM NOTE: To get the full effect for this segment, read it while listening to 'I Don't Want To Miss A Thing' by Aerosmith. That's the song I had stuck in my head while I wrote this.

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Full Circle

_Thank you, Primus, _Megatron thought as he lay silent and still in his bed. Zephyr slept with her head nestled against his shoulder and he had his arm around her, holding her close as she gave a soft sigh at something in her dreams. She had her own arm draped across him in a loose embrace, her forearm serving as a pillow for little Galvie, who lay cuddled up on his father's chest, little claws clinging lightly as he blinked sleepily up at the larger Decepticon and smiled. "Daeee," he lisped in a soft, cooing voice before yawning and drifting off to sleep as well. Megatron didn't so much as stir, lest he disturb either of them and end this perfect moment, merely lying there as quiet as could be and feeling the warm glow of sheer contentment fill every fiber of his being. All his dreams of power and glory faded to less than nothing before the utter bliss he had found simply through loving another. _I wouldn't trade this moment for the power of ten thousand All Sparks, or for unquestioned domination of the whole universe and all other dimensions besides. _

Staring up at the ceiling, feeling a broad smile taking shape upon his face, he found himself feeling reluctant to let sleep claim him. Even the sweetest dream was as nothing before the wonder of the reality, and he wished the moment would last forever. He wanted to just stay there in that moment until the end of time. Moving very carefully, he turned to look at Zephyr's sleeping face, and the small smile that graced her beautiful features. He wondered what she was dreaming about. _Do you see me in your dreams? _The fact that she loved him had always amazed him, had amazed him from the very start and still he found it a wondrous, joyous miracle that someone as sweet and pure as she was could possibly love someone like him, tainted as he was by evil deeds. There were times when he felt unworthy of her goodness, All Spark or not. He owed her so much… _Oh Zephyr, you saved my life and my spark, freed me from a prison I never knew I'd been placed in. Your love for me, your faith in me_… _You moved the heart of a god, and all for me, even after what I've done. _As he had done uncountable times before, he swore an oath in that moment. _My darling Zephyr, if ever you should find yourself in danger, I will do whatever it takes to save you and I will not hesitate. Even if it should cost me my life._

As Megatron relaxed and let sleep claim him, snuggled up close to his wife and son, he had no clue that the security camera in the corner of his room had a different audience than any security officer. No, it had been tapped into and overridden by some unknown spy, and the images it captured were relayed to someplace far away and displayed on a huge screen for a group of sinister strangers to look at. "…Sickening," one of the watchers said eventually, voice filled with hate. "Sickening indeed," another replied. "He has no right to be this well off after what he did. It disgusts me that he has been allowed to go free without paying for his crimes!" Turning, a third, who had been staring at the screen spoke up. "Don't worry, _we'll_ take care of that oversight. Our plans are already in place, remember? We'll make him pay the price for each and every life his cursed war ended." The second turned to regard the third. "And then?" A wicked smile took shape on the face of the third. "And then we'll kill him."

An old memory drifted through Megatron's dreaming mind. In the aftermath of the first strike in what would turn into the massive, eons-long war that would lead him to Earth and change everything, one of the prisoners he'd captured had approached him. She had introduced herself as Clearsight, a fortuneteller and seer of the future, and she had offered to tell his future in return for being spared. Something deep down inside him, some last fragment of the good person he had once been, had accepted her offer… And so she had told his fortune. "Long, long is the road that lies before you, king of deceit. Flames light your path, and multitudes cry your name from the dust. The great will fall before you, yet the power you seek will call you away from the battlefield, away from this world you seek to rule. You will descend as a raging flame upon a world where much lies hidden, and as a flame you shall be quenched. Cold will hold you as you sleep, until Fate crosses your path in a single frail form. The frail beings of that world hold your life in their hands, and the first to find you will give rise to your defeat. Beneath the ground you will wait for the day to come when a youth claims his legacy, and a kinsman's defeated cry will herald not his downfall but yours. Your quest will end in water, just as your journey to that world will end in cold. " She'd smiled at him then. "Yes, you will do much for power… But you will do yet more for love. You yourself shall stand against the flames of revolution you seek to ignite, striving to undo what you now hope to accomplish. In the end, what you want shall be yours… after you no longer want it. Yet in gaining what you no longer want you will also gain something you never realized you wanted." Her words had confused him, and in the end he'd broken his word and killed her anyway. _But she was telling the truth, _he realized. He now realized she'd predicted his arrival and stay on Earth quite nicely, along with the joy he had found. _She did as I asked of her_… _and I killed her anyway. _Another betrayal to atone for, another life ended. Sorrow filled him at the thought.

A ray of light shone into the darkness of his emotions, a gentle, loving caress against his thoughts, the echo of a sweet, innocent laugh. His beloved reached out to him, drawing him out of his darkness and into her light. Distracting him from his memories by using her own as she usually did, she walked with him on the remembered streets of Mission City. Sometimes she would lie beside him in a field of tall grass from her early childhood and watched the clouds drift by. Other times she walked with him across a sandy beach she'd often visited while growing up. Sometimes they would merely sit together on the balcony of the apartment she'd owned before she met him, watching as the sun set and the stars came out one by one. If her memories were beautiful, the fantasies she showed him were unbelievable. She had a truly remarkable capacity to remember music and to mentally play it back to herself, and to him. Stunning symphonies from long ago, the energetic music of the modern age, the joyous celebration of life that crossed so many cultures… At peace in her arms, all darkness banished by her presence and her love, Megatron slept on.

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When my little brother was a baby, he never said 'Da-da.' Not even once. He always used 'Daeee'. For anyone who can't understand my attempt at writing baby talk, that's 'daddy'.

There will be no updates until I get some reviews. I hate holding my story hostage like this, but I at least need to know how I'm doing and what you guys think.


	2. Taking a turn for the worse

-1This takes place the following day.

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The peace he'd felt that night did not long survive once he woke up. Right from the moment he opened his eyes, the day turned into a highly stressful nightmare of utter exasperation. Problems by the dozen seemed to be popping up out of the proverbial woodwork all over the place, problems that apparently he alone could solve, and so he found himself being called to various places both in and out of the city. He barely had time for a moment's rest between problems, and he had no time to stop for energon. _It's a good thing it's not like this _every _day, _he thought. _Otherwise this job would kill me._

He felt like he'd circled the whole planet several times by the time the last issue was taken care of, and given all the running around he'd had to do he wouldn't have been too surprised if he had done exactly that. Sort of stumbling, he took note of where his travels had taken him. He'd left the city he called home entirely, crossed the high cliffs and the canyon Zephyr had fled to after Galvatron's ambush. He was in another city entirely, this one more like a small town than anything else. Mentally calculating the distance between home and his current location, he realized he wouldn't be able to fly that far without some energon or at least a little rest. No, he'd be lucky to cover even half that distance. "I'll head home in the morning. But first, a little energon… and a lot of rest." He wavered on his feet for a moment, nearly collapsing as consciousness abruptly flickered. "At least… at least it's over." He didn't realize he'd spoken any of those words aloud until an utterly unfamiliar voice abruptly spoke up from behind him. "_Wrong! _It's only just begun!" Something struck the back of his head, hard, giving rise to a sudden flash of agony and an explosion of white in his vision, in the wake of which blackness abruptly rose to claim him.

The unseen watcher smirked as Megatron gave an undignified yelp and fell to the ground, out cold. Lowering the wrench he'd just used to club the Decepticon over the head, he chuckled at the sight of the former warlord lying sprawled on the ground. "He's down," he muttered over a private channel. "Come get him, everyone." All around the area, several workers and civilians dropped their acts and followed the signal. Gathering swiftly around the fallen Decepticon, they roughly hoisted his limp body up off the ground and then proceeded to begin carrying him off.

A few moments later, the group abruptly stopped as their cargo shifted weakly in their arms, letting out a soft groan as he slowly opened dim red eyes. It took all his strength to raise his head, and he gave another groan at the pain that filled him at the movement. A hazy smear of blurred colors swam in his vision as he squinted up at the one who stood before him. He tried to speak, but all he could manage was a badly slurred whisper. "Wh…who…" Soft as his voice was, he was heard nonetheless. "Someone intent on making you pay for your sins, Megatron. That's all you need to know. _Down you go!_" That sudden, brief instant of shattering pain returned as whatever had struck him before struck him a second time, causing the darkness to descend upon him once again. Even as darkness fell, a single piece of information registered in his mind. The eyes staring down at him were blue. _Blue eyes_… _Autobots. _That realization fell away into oblivion. There were smiles all around as the Decepticon slumped and went limp again.

The hallway rang with the sound of a small child's hysterical screams, prompting Optimus to drop everything and sprint wholeheartedly toward the source of the cries. He barely registered that he was heading toward Zephyr's room, even as he practically kicked the door down. Coming to a screeching halt so fast he practically landed on his face, he stared in wide-eyed horror at the scene laid out before him. Zephyr lay sprawled face down on the ground, limp as a rag and completely unresponsive to the pokes and frantic cries coming from little Galvie, who huddled by her shoulder and tried valiantly yet uselessly to get her to wake up. The sight of him there broke Optimus out of his shocked state. Activating his communicator, he sent out a call. "Ratchet, Zephyr's collapsed in her quarters! Get down here _now!_" It didn't take long for the other Autobot to hit the scene and Optimus quickly scooped Galvie up to get him out of the way. The little Decepticon struggled at first, squealing angrily at being separated from his mother, but he calmed down upon realizing he was with his uncle, going from squirming in the much larger Autobot's arms to clinging tightly in no time flat. "Mama," he whimpered, shivering as he laid his head against Optimus's chest. Not really sure of the right way to handle a small child, the Autobot leader awkwardly cradled Galvie against his chest. "It's going to be all right," he said, hoping the little one would catch on to the tone of his voice if not his words. "Ratchet will help your mother." Galvie just went quiet, still shivering.

Groaning feebly, Zephyr slowly opened her eyes and proceeded to stare through Ratchet, not seeming to be aware of him, much less recognize him. "Blue eyes," she slurred softly, each whispered syllable taking all her strength. "Blue eyes… my sins." Unable to figure out what was wrong with her, Ratchet settled for trying to keep her awake. "Zephyr, what do you mean? 'Blue eyes'? 'Your sins'? What do you mean?" She shook her head slightly, wincing at the pain the movement caused her. "Hurts," she told him, struggling to raise her arm and point at her head. Realizing that she was delirious and in pain, in no condition to answer any questions put to her, Ratchet quietly administered a sedative. Sighing softly, she relaxed as the drugs lulled her to sleep, leaving the pain behind for a while. Optimus echoed her sigh, realizing he'd have to keep an eye on his nephew for a while. Galvie didn't protest as he left the room. He knew his mother needed to sleep.

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Come on, ONE review?! Any ideas? Anything?

Same deal as always. I don't update until I get reviews.


	3. The Hammer of Justice

-1Well, here's chapter three. As if things weren't bad enough…

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The first thing he noticed was the light. As consciousness slowly returned, what had at first seemed beautiful and perfect became harsh and sterile until he recoiled with a soft, wordless groan. The sound of metal scraping against metal accompanied his movement, at least until the feeling of something fastened tightly round his wrists stopped him short. Murmuring questioningly, he slowly opened his eyes, wincing at the bright light. His internal warning systems sounded off, though he alone could hear. He needed energon, and badly. Much longer without and he'd go into stasis lock. The second thing he noticed was that he was in chains. His arms were shackled behind his back, rendering him helpless to defend himself… or to do much of anything else, for that matter. Not about to stay down for any reason, he tried to at least get on his knees. Unable to use his arms as he was, it took a bit of creative squirming, but he eventually managed to get up.

"Well, well. So you're finally awake." The sound of that strange voice made him whip around. Doing so, he beheld a dark shape clad in robes of the deepest, darkest shade of black imaginable. This imposing figure glared down at his kneeling form with eyes the color of ancient ice, face hidden in shadow. "Welcome, Megatron," the cloaked one said in a low, threatening voice. "I have summoned you here for a purpose…" Megatron's eyes narrowed. To his knowledge, he hadn't been 'summoned' at all. No, he'd been abducted; and besides, nobody treated _him_ like this without punishment. A fragment of his old self rose up inside him, giving rise to a defiant, hateful snarl. _"Nobody summons Megatron!" _That angry outburst drained the Decepticon's already meager reserves of strength, so he was too weak to reply to the statement that followed. A chuckle arose. "Then it pleases me to be the first." The figure paused. "Ah," he said. "I almost forgot."

A moment later, a powerful blow to the chest sent Megatron flying onto his back, the chains pinning his arms beneath him, helpless as could be as the figure crouched low over him, powerful hands reaching for his chest as he struggled and kicked desperately. He'd done this to his enemies before, ripping their chests open to crush their sparks, casing and all… Straining with all his might, shuddering at the effort, he arched his back, trying in vain to pull away from the steely fingers that were even at that moment prying at the seams of his armor plating. It was all he could do not to scream in terror. The only reply his struggling got was the sound of metal giving way, and the utterly terrifying feeling of exposure, of having his very _life_ in the hands of a hostile stranger. In tune with that realization, he felt a powerful grip close on his spark chamber. "No… _No!_" In response to that cry, the grip loosened and fell away. Something else inside him was grasped in its stead, and he shuddered as wires snapped loose. "I just deactivated your stasis lock protocols," that threatening voice said, tormentor and victim now eye to eye. Megatron knew what that meant. Stasis lock was a protective measure in case of severe damage or energon deprivation, meant as a last-ditch defense against death. With it deactivated, he wouldn't have very much longer to live unless he got some energon, and soon.

The figure stood up, leaving him there, armor torn open, spark chamber laid bare and vulnerable. "I forgot my manners." There was a pause. "I am called the Arbiter. That's not my real name, of course, but it'll work well enough since it describes what I do. The group I command is called the Hammer of Justice. Your war ended a lot of innocent lives, Megatron… And we're going to see that you pay for each and every one of them." The angry, defiant response the Arbiter had been expecting didn't come. Instead, the Decepticon stayed silent, a look of regretful sorrow taking shape on his face. That was all for a moment. "…We can't have you dying before judgment is passed," the Arbiter said finally, reaching deep into the folds of his cloak to withdraw a small container of energon and toss it to the ground in front of where Megatron lay, spilling a good portion of it on the somewhat dirty floor. "Count yourself lucky that you're getting any at all, and that you have yet to be judged. The Hammer of Justice doesn't waste resources on the guilty." Spinning, he then left the Decepticon alone in what he now realized was a prison cell.

Once again it took a lot of squirming, but he managed to get back on his knees. Wasting no time, leaning down, he drained the container dry in no time flat, caring little for the fact that his inability to pick up and hold the container made the process messy at best. Welcome as it was, it wasn't enough. Gazing down at the puddle that lay around the container, he realized it was no accident that most of it had spilled on the floor. The portion he had been given had been carefully measured out. If he was to survive long enough to even begin to hope for rescue, he couldn't let any go to waste… even the spilled portion. This was meant to be degrading, stripping him of his dignity, forcing him to disregard any form of pride if he wanted to survive. Thoughts of Zephyr's smiling face drifted through his mind, intertwined with images of his son. Shuddering in anger at his captors and disgust at what he was being forced to do, he slowly lowered his head and, gagging quietly at the grossness of it all, began to carefully lick up the spilled energon. _If_… _No, _when _I get rescued, I won't mention this part. Ever._

Optimus had already had a bad feeling about things after what had happened to Zephyr, but the fact that Megatron had yet to return home proved it to him. Something was wrong. Playing off a hunch, Optimus had researched the problems Megatron had been called out to deal with and he had found that all of them were either exaggerations or complete lies. In response to this realization, a worldwide scan had been done, but his signal beacon hadn't shown up anywhere. It had to have been disabled somehow, since Zephyr's had mysteriously gone offline as well. She'd regained consciousness, no longer delirious or in pain, but she was very weak for no real reason. Even Ratchet was baffled.

A look through Security records revealed a fact that made Optimus's spark go cold, for he found that Megatron was merely the latest in a fairly long series of previously unreported disappearances. He hadn't known (nobody had!) that Decepticons who had figured prominently in the war had been disappearing for months. Reports had been filed, but they appeared to have been ignored or hidden from the sight of others such as him. It had to be a conspiracy, a conspiracy that had obviously spread far enough to have an effect on the highest levels of government. And for the Lord High Protector himself to disappear without so much as a trace… Optimus cursed at himself. How could he have been naive enough to believe that eons of built-up resentment and hatred would just go away with the declaration of peace? No, it remained, and this was how it was expressed… a conspiracy that threatened the lives of repentant Decepticons, Megatron included. It was probably too late for those who had been abducted early on. Optimus was willing to bet that most of them were already dead; from energon deprivation, repeated torture or just plain being executed. Pulling himself out of his self-accusatory funk, he prepared to get down to business like he had never gotten down to business before. He had to hurry. It may have been too late for some of the other victims, but he still had time to save his brother. His first order of business was to try to figure out the location of the base of operations for this vigilante group, so he began to dig deeper into the Security records, expanding his search to include the whole planet. A group as big as this one had to be couldn't possibly avoid leaving some evidence of its existence. Even if… He shuddered as the thought came to him. Even if it was their method of disposing of the bodies of the victims.

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I guess everybody's busy getting ready for the holidays. Last-minute shopping, huh? That must be why nobody seems to be looking at this.


	4. Who needs Quintessons?

-1Well, you knew this was coming…

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Megatron was so weak he could barely stand, but that didn't stop the crimson-cloaked guards from dragging him out of his cell, prodding him with fully charged shock sticks even as he complied with their wishes. He tried to tell them that he wasn't resisting, but that earned him a swift crack right across the face with one of the shock sticks. Convulsing as the electricity ripped through him, he collapsed like several tons of bricks even as the other guards gathered round and began to beat on him. Stuck on his back, he cursed the chains he wore for the millionth time. He couldn't shield himself from any of the blows. No, all he could do was lie there and take it. The pain was terrible and the blows just kept coming, he could feel his already battered armor beginning to buckle and give way under the assault, he could feel his hold on consciousness loosening bit by bit with each blow he took. It took him a few seconds to realize it had ended. A moment later he was roughly hauled up off the ground and back onto his feet, and once again prodded to continue going forward. His head was spinning and he couldn't walk in a straight line to save his life. As it was, he was just barely standing as they herded him forward.

His vision cleared in time for him to see that the hallway had widened into a large, very brightly lit room. The Arbiter stood atop a high podium at the opposite side of the room. The room's sides were lined with rows of seats a little like a very small stadium. Each seat had an occupant, in that the number of seats matched the number of shouting, cursing Autobots who now stood where they had been sitting moments ago, screaming their hatred and desire to see him suffer. Recoiling slightly, he shifted his attention away and scanned the room. Judging from the layout, this was supposed to be some sort of trial. His eyes narrowed even as he was led to what basically amounted to a small cage. A moment before he was shoved in his chains were unlocked. Allowing himself a sigh of relief, he stretched for a few seconds before his attention was called back to the matter at hand.

"Megatron," the Arbiter began, "You stand here on trial for monstrous deeds too numerous to count. Do you understand?" The Decepticon's eyes narrowed at that. Oh, he understood, all right… "Spare me this mockery of justice!" he spat with all his remaining strength. The Arbiter slammed a fist on the side of the podium he stood on. "Silence, or you'll be found in contempt of this court!" Megatron managed a harsh, sarcastic laugh. "I have nothing _but_ contempt for this court!" Turning slightly, the Arbiter nodded to the two guards flanking the cage. Wasting no time, the two took up their shock sticks, charged them up fully, then simultaneously jabbed him in the back. In great pain, he convulsed where he stood, head thrown back, back arching painfully even as his knees buckled beneath him and he crumpled to the floor. The guards followed him down, keeping their shock sticks pressed hard against his back even as his attempts to pull away devolved into desperate, uncoordinated thrashing. "S-stop it… please…" He could barely recognize his own voice, tortured whimper that it was. "No more…" Panting harshly as the electricity ripped through him, stabbing down to his very spark, he struggled to keep from screaming in agony. "I'll… submit to your trial. Just… _please_…" A silent nod was all the response the Arbiter gave, but it was enough. The assault stopped, but it was a few fairly long minutes before he could muster enough strength to stand back up.

"Each and every person you see before you stands as a witness to your deeds, for have your crimes not touched us all? Yet you stand accused of a greater crime… the crime of not paying for your sins." Megatron hung his head. "My sins? I have paid for them. I am still paying and will always pay. I won't deny what I did. What good would it do to lie? You say you wish to punish me. Well, tell me… What greater punishment is there than to live with what I've done, to regret my crimes every day, to live them every day? What greater pain is there than to wish with all my heart that I could go back and change things, yet to know that the past is and forever will be set in stone? Have you considered _that?_" He paused, sighing. "I think you haven't. But then, how could you? You say all these things as if you know me, as if my very spark was laid bare before you with everything wide open for all to see. But you don't know me; not a one of you. _You. Don't. Know me._" His eyes narrowed as he hissed the last few words. "But I'll _tell_ you. Yes, I'll tell _all_ of you what only my brother and my beloved know! I have already tried to give everything to atone for my sins… right down to my very life! I have already attempted suicide several times!" The crowd was surprised at that, and such was all too visible. But Megatron didn't care. No, he just kept going, his voice rising with each word, becoming a shout more of grief and pain than any form of anger. "_Look at me! _My spark chamber's casing is laid bare before you… look at it! Look at the marks on it!" They could not help but do as he said, noting the unmistakable claw marks that crisscrossed his spark chamber. He held up his hands, flexing his claws for all to see. "You know the marks these hands have left. Do you not recognize them now?" Indeed they did. The marks that adorned Megatron's spark chamber had come from his own claws. "You do, don't you! Then how _dare_ you accuse me of not paying for my sins! How _dare_ you accuse me of not suffering for what I've done!" His voice dropped as he looked down in utter shame. "It's only through the All Spark's grace that I stand before you now, for otherwise I would have died several times over… by my own hand. Zephyr's love saved me from death… and, Primus help me, that hurts just as much. For someone so good, so _pure_ to choose to love _me_… For her to know of all my sins and yet _forgive_ me… I'm not worthy of her forgiveness after what I've done, much less her love. Yet still she loves me. And that's what hurts the most."

The crowd had gone quiet, all lust for vengeance stilled by the heartfelt outpourings of a tortured soul. A multitude of faces stared at him, hate replaced with compassion. He couldn't meet their gazes as they gazed upon the pitiful monster that was him. The Arbiter rapped on his podium several times, drawing everyone's attention back to him. His eyes still shone with pure hate. Megatron's impassioned speech had moved all save him. "Megatron, you stand convicted by your own words. This court finds you guilty on all charges and sentences you to death… by _my_ hand, since no one else seems willing. Guards, take him back to his cell. You know what to do." The guards did as they were told, far gentler than before, not really bothering with their shock sticks this time around. He knew better than to try to resist in his current condition, so he just went quietly. Still the crowd spoke not a word, wide blue eyes watching his every move as he was led from the room. Casting a momentary glance their way, he was surprised as all eyes dropped. He had shamed them all, flung the reality of what they were doing in their faces and in so doing opened their eyes. He'd even affected the guards. All eyes followed him out in utter silence, marveling at his quiet dignity even in this situation.

Calm and serene even despite the fact that he had been sentenced to death, he was marched solemnly back to his cell, where things began to take a darker turn. Quietly mumbling "Sorry", one of the guards chained his wrists together again, this time securing them to chains that hung from the ceiling and pinning his arms above his head. The other did much the same thing to his ankles with chains attached to the floor. He'd thought he had been utterly helpless before, with his arms shackled behind his back… Now he knew _true_ helplessness. The guard that had fastened the chains on his ankles straightened up and stepped closer even as the other one left. Tensing up slightly, Megatron just sort of stared at him. "They say you have some sort of bond with the Lady Wellspring," the guard said in a very quiet voice. "They say she knows what you know." Megatron nodded. The guard looked all around before leaning closer. "You're in the city-state of Kaon, Megatron. I suggest you pass that information along. I don't care how, but I suggest you do it quickly because the Arbiter doesn't usually participate in executions but the ones he _does_ participate in are often very gruesome and take quite a while for all involved." The guard stepped away. "I'll come back, if I can." With that, the guard left and things were quiet for a long moment. Then Megatron spoke up softly, murmuring to himself. "Kaon, huh?"

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Fear Megatron's mad verbal skillz.

This will, in all likelihood, be the last update of the year, since I'm not going to have very much internet access during Christmas vacation.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, for the love of Primus somebody please review this junk, and may the Force be with you. It's 2 AM. If you're expecting coherency, sorry.


	5. Hard times and harder luck

How about that! I managed to update.

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"How are we feeling today, Zephyr?" Ratchet smiled reassuringly as he stepped closer to her bed, checking the machines monitoring her vital functions. Her answering smile was very weak, just like her vital functions. "…Been better," she murmured feebly. He marveled at her spirit. Dire as the situation was, she remained upbeat and cheerful. "How's… Galvie?" Ratchet patted her shoulder. "He's doing just fine. Rumble's very protective of his baby brother and right now he's trying to teach him to talk. Ravage is treating him just like a kitten, giving him all the kitty-snuggles he can handle, and it apparently tickles like crazy when he gives him a bath. Scorponok just lets him ride on his back." Zephyr's weak smile broadened. "…Good." A moment later, her smile died. "…And Optimus? Is… is he…" Seeing that she had already exhausted herself with the effort it took to speak, he hushed her. "He's doing everything he can to find Megatron, so you don't have to worry about that. Just concentrate on getting better, all right?" She smiled again. She already knew she had to stay strong. Every ounce of strength she had was being poured into helping her beloved from afar, sustaining him through energon deprivation and taking the pain upon herself. Doing anything else tired her out quickly. As if to prove that point, she quietly went limp as sleep seized her once again.

Ratchet quietly left the room. Walking down the hallway, he entered Optimus's office to find the Autobot in question seated before a computer and sorting through security files just as fast as his mind could handle. Ratchet broke the silence. "Any luck?" Looking down, Optimus buried his face in his hands. "No, not a thing. Whoever this group is, they've covered their tracks so thoroughly that it's like they don't exist at all. It's like Megatron and all those other Decepticons stepped off the face of the planet." He sighed. "…How's Zephyr?" It was Ratchet's turn to look down. "She's fading fast, Optimus. No matter what I do, the result's the same. She's giving everything to Megatron. At this rate, she may die _before_ he does. I suppose I could sedate her, or find a way to disrupt the link, but I shudder to think what severing the link would do to both of them. Not to mention the fact that she's probably our only hope for getting a clue as to where they might be holding him." The Autobot leader slowly looked up, an idea coming to him. "…Maybe not sever the link, but muffle it, inhibit it. Keep her from pouring out more energy than she already has. That way she'll be all right and still be in contact with him." Inspired, Ratchet nodded rapidly before darting out of the room, heading back to where Zephyr slept.

The sound of rough, wavering gasps echoed in his hearing, along with the light clatter of his armor as he shivered weakly. His head drooped as he stared with badly blurred double vision at the pooling energon that had trickled from his broken body, utterly limp with only the chains fastened to his wrists to support him. A shudder ran through him as he abruptly gagged, coughing out a thick clot of energon. The Arbiter hadn't killed him yet. No, he was planning to make him suffer horribly first. That had been why… the club… Megatron's mind drifted. The Arbiter had taken out the biggest club he'd ever seen and then proceeded to beat him until metal bent and armor cracked, until fuel lines ruptured and defiant snarls subsided into feeble groans. Now here he was, weak, near death and in agony, a broken, bleeding wreck struggling merely to cling to life from one moment to the next. Just barely clinging to consciousness, his eyes were half open as he stared at nothing in particular, dim thoughts of Zephyr drifting through his mind. The sound of the door quietly opening didn't register, and the same was the case with the sound of approaching footsteps. It took a couple of seconds for him to realize that he was staring up at a face.

He squinted up at the smeared blur that floated in his vision before giving feeble voice to the only thought in his dazed mind. "…Z…Zephyr?…" A male voice replied in the negative even as his eyes focused long enough for him to realize that the guard who had said he would return had indeed returned. Broken lips struggled weakly to form words even as the guard took out a small container of energon and helped him to drink. "My rations," the guard explained. "You seem to need them more than I do." Awareness sharpened slightly as strength returned a little bit. "…Why?" he managed. "Why help me?" The guard smiled reassuringly as he helped Megatron drink a little more. "Because you've suffered enough as is. You showed everybody that. I'd go find your brother if you were stronger… but you need me here, and you need my rations. Any luck contacting the Lady Wellspring?" The half-dead Decepticon managed to shake his head slightly. "Can't," he mumbled. "Don't have… the strength." The guard sighed, slumping slightly. "That complicates things, then. You can't call for help and I can't go fetch help. I guess all either of us can do is hope that my rations will build up your strength to the point where one or both of those things can occur." Megatron smiled feebly as a single question came to him. "Wh…who… are you?…" The guard met the Decepticon's smile with one of his own. "My name is Riptide." Megatron struggled to raise his head. "Riptide… thank you." Those few words doubled the guard's disgust at how far his comrades and other Autobots like them had fallen. It had taken the words of one repentant former warlord and a lot of thinking for him to realize that they were acting more like Decepticons than even the Decepticons were at that point. _Autobots are supposed to defend others, not punish them. We're supposed to _fight_ injustice, not take part in it! _Thrusting all those thoughts aside, he gave his best smile. "Just rest, Megatron," he reassured him. "Just rest." He didn't so much as budge as the Decepticon slowly relaxed, ragged, pain-filled breaths deepening and growing farther apart until he was sure sleep had seized him in its soothing grasp. Smiling to himself at the fact that his pain had been eased, if only for a few hours, Riptide quietly left the room, closing and locking the cell door behind him to preserve the illusion that he was still loyal to the Arbiter, and to the Hammer of Justice.

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This story is going to be fairly violent. I'd like to apologize for that. Please bear with me; this is a rather hard time of the year for me.


	6. Hope dies

Writing stuff like this is really the only way I can deal with this time of year.

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As had been the case every day since the debacle started, the peace of the night did not long survive into the morning. Trembling from pain and effort, Megatron struggled to hold his head high and meet the Arbiter's gaze. "I don't… understand you. What… do you want… from me?" He got the sense of a satisfied grin from that hooded visage as he stepped closer to the Decepticon's helpless form. Reaching into his robe, he withdrew a length of metal-fiber rope, then leaned in close enough to whisper soft words. "I want to hear you say four words, Decepticon. Four little words…" Stroking his victim's cheek in a manner Megatron found nothing less than thoroughly sickening, the Arbiter slowly, almost lovingly wrapped the cord around his neck. _"I want to die."_

Zephyr gasped where he lay, choking and gagging even as she awakened. "Ratchet…" The machines monitoring her vital functions sounded off as her back arched, hands clutching desperately at her throat. "Ratchet, _help me_…" The medic in question was already on the move, working furiously to finish work on the inhibitor he'd designed to block her link to Megatron. It was complete and now all he had to do was get it on her. He'd designed it to be worn around the neck, but could he safely put it on her with the way she was thrashing? There was no time for thought, only action. Bodily lunging at her, he prayed for the strength to pin her long enough to get the inhibitor on her. She very nearly threw him off, but, with some very determined fumbling, he managed. The effects were immediate. She went limp the instant he got it on her, quietly gasping for the breath she had apparently been unable to take before. Backing off with equal silence, Ratchet thanked whatever god was listening for the fact that it worked before taking a moment to wonder how she would take it. Her gasping died down to normal breathing as she began to calm down. A moment later, she stiffened with a gasp of shock. "What? I… I can't…"

A moment later, she freaked. She didn't seem to move so much as _appear_ right in front of him, hands seizing his shoulders in a powerful grip, her face inches from his as she roared in an angry, half-hysterical voice. _"What did you do to me?" _Retaining enough presence of mind to be gentle enough not to harm him in any way, she repeated her question. "The thing round your neck is meant to inhibit your link to Megatron, to keep you from killing yourself in your attempts to help him. He wouldn't want you to suffer for his sake, Zephyr. No, he'd want to see you healthy and strong." She released him and backed away, hanging her head. "But Ratchet, you didn't inhibit the link… You broke it."

The worst tortures imaginable were as nothing in the face of this new horror, searing, withering psychic backwash tearing through every fiber of his being, right down to his spark, and then the _silence_… He struggled as if he had gone mad, twisting in his chains even as rough edges dug into broken armor, the sheer violence of it forcing the Arbiter back. To his knowledge, no force in existence could break the bond he shared with his beloved, no power could part them save one… _She's dead! She's dead! _It felt like his spark had been ripped from him, leaving in its place an unbearable emptiness like nothing he'd dreamed himself capable of feeling. His cries echoed in his hearing, desperate denials, pleas to Primus for this not to be, and most of all her name, over and over, a wail of growing despair like the howls of a lost soul suffering the torments of Hell. Had he not been restrained like he was he would have been clawing at himself in a mad frenzy of grief, or he would have simply reached in and crushed his own spark chamber on the spot. Oh, he could feel it now, steely fingers swiftly closing, the sensation of increasing pressure, a momentary flash of pain and then sweet release, fleeing the painful desolation that was all that remained of this life, free to rejoin his dear one and be whole again…

Hysterical howling had died down to broken weeping by the time Riptide came around again, rations in hand. "…No," he whispered hoarsely to the offered energon. "Just… just let me die. She's dead… Oh Primus, she's dead. No… Zephyr… Why couldn't I have died too?" Being careful not to jar his many injuries, Riptide very gently patted his shoulder. "She's not dead, Megatron. In fact, spy feeds from the capital city indicate that she's perfectly fine." The Decepticon's head snapped up to meet his gaze. "Sh-she's alive?" Riptide nodded reassuringly. "Your link to her had to have been broken by an outside force, something besides the two of you. It also had to be artificial in nature. The fact that the break apparently occurred while she was in the repair bay seems to support this theory." Fighting the urge to just give in to the relief and joy he felt, the Autobot's words gave him a question. "The repair bay? Why?" Riptide shrugged in a nonchalant manner. "It had to be related to the link because the problem apparently disappeared the _instant_ you lost contact with her." That made it all clear to Megatron because he _knew_ Zephyr. "Ratchet must have severed the link by artificial means to stop her from killing herself trying to help me…" Though he was greatly comforted by the knowledge that she still lived, that fact did nothing to ease the cold emptiness he felt inside, deprived of the link to her. It hurt so much, not having it. He'd never realized just how much had passed between the two of them… the warm glow of love and devotion, the sense of well-being, the sense of the other just being there… Oh, he missed it so!

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Okay, now the link is broken. Given the fact that it was pretty much their last hope of finding him, I think you can see why I chose the title I did.


	7. Some things are universal

-1Hope isn't quite as dead as the last chapter made it appear…

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It felt a little like death. Zephyr sat on her bed, mind whirling at the enormity of the situation. _I never dreamed it was possible to hurt this much yet bear no physical injury. _Burying her face in her hands, she fought the urge to weep. Though she knew he had to still be alive, out there somewhere, but it felt like he was dead, as though she'd lost him. Ratchet had hidden nothing from her, making no secret of the fact that the link had become pretty much their last hope for finding him in time to save him. _Now I've lost even that. _What hope was there? She mentally reviewed what little data Optimus's research had turned up. _The Hammer of Justice_… _Autobot supremacists. _The last word resonated in her mind, giving her the feeling that it held the key. _Hmm, supremacists. _She had no idea that she was straightening up where she sat, eyes widening. Yes, this was it, it was coming to her, an idea, no, _the answer _literally taking shape in her mind… _Supremacists!!! _Jumbled memories of human history stampeded through her mind at a furious speed, extrapolations concerning the mindset of a typical bigot, and so much more hullabaloo than that… Bolting straight up out of the bed, she was out the door in less than a microsecond, literally flying down the hallway. _"Optimus!"_

"_Run a population search!" _It would have been downright hilarious for anyone else to see the thoroughly startled leader of the Autobots seemingly levitate straight up out of the chair he'd previously been sitting in, but Zephyr couldn't care less. "What?" he eventually asked. She was standing by his chair in an instant, leaning forward for a better look at the screen. "Display population statistics for the whole planet, concentrating on where Autobots live in relation to where Decepticons live." Not really understanding why she wanted to know about that, he complied. A diagram came up on the screen, a small dot indicating a particular habitation, color-coded red and blue to designate each faction. One part of the diagram interested her. "Look here," she pointed out. "There isn't even a single Decepticon living in this region. Not a one. There's just Autobots." Her eyes narrowed. This had great significance in her mind, as it reminded her of a dark time back on Earth… "Kindly cross-reference that with reports of violence and what could be considered civil unrest." He complied with her request, revealing piles of information he'd had no idea was being concealed. "Wow, that's a lot of reports…" A grim smile took shape on her face. That was another piece of the puzzle accounted for. "Now factor in Security activity." The results surprised him, but not her. "Security doesn't seem to have done much of anything about those reports!" She sat back semi-triumphantly, smiling broadly and feeling as though she had just won a major battle. "The Hammer of Justice's headquarters has to be in that area. There, where the violence seems to be the most concentrated. Look for a large structure. From what I was able to see, the place he's imprisoned in is pretty big."

After what seemed like quite a bit of looking, Optimus found a building that seemed to fit the criteria she'd laid out. "Look here, Zephyr," he said, pointing at the image on the screen. "This old abandoned factory here… It's at the center of everything." Her response to that was to straighten up and smile even more broadly, if that was possible. "I'm willing to bet good money on that factory not being abandoned at all. No, it just _looks_ it. I'm also willing to place very good odds on that being the place. As a matter of fact, I'm _sure_ of it. The Hammer of Justice is there. That's where we'll find him. _Kaon._"

Optimus just had one question. "How did you figure this out?" Relaxing a little bit, she leaned against the wall. "Earth's had its share of supremacists. Still does, in fact. After a while, patterns start to develop. Supremacists like to live separate from those they wish to dominate because they don't like the idea of mingling with those they deem below them, and they have a definite tendency to take advantage of lax laws to perform acts of violence, especially if the agency enforcing those laws is either corrupted or contains more than a few members of the supremacist group in question. If there's an opening, they'll use it. I guess it just goes to show that if something _can_ be taken advantage of, it _will_ be taken advantage of. A good sign of this is the _huge_ inconsistency between the number of reports of violence and Security's response to these reports. And the places closest to their home base always seem to get hit hardest. Things are always easier closer to home, it would seem. I figured that since there are supremacists on this world too they just might follow the same patterns. Some things are truly universal, it seems." There was a pause, during which she gave a shrug concerning the information she had just imparted upon him. "…I'm really not surprised that it took a human… well, _former_ human… to spot these patterns. Given how recent the split is among your people, what with the war's end and the return of peace being so recent after so long, it's really no wonder nobody has any sort of experience with this sort of thing. There was no split before the war, so you have no idea how to handle it during peacetime." Optimus looked to her, appreciative of her sudden insight. "That makes a lot of sense. I'll take note of that for the future, just in case future supremacists should arise and the patterns someday repeat. Now come on, Zephyr; we have a lot of work to do if we're going to break up a group as large and powerful as this one seems to be. Let's go rally the military for a raid on that factory. They should be more than happy to be of assistance once we tell them the peace they protect is being threatened." This drew a smile from her, her first in days. Soon she and her beloved would be reunited, and the Hammer of Justice would pay for the pain they had caused. "They commit atrocities and call it justice when it isn't justice at all. They're not worthy of being referred to as Autobots if you ask me!" Optimus nodded. "Indeed. Once we capture those involved, I'm going to strip them of that title and exile them from this planet."

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This had better get some friggin' reviews…


	8. And injustice for all

-1I suppose the group I described before is like a hybrid of South African apartheid, segregation, and Sixties-era white supremacists in the Deep South.

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"Let me tell you of my dream…" Megatron flinched slightly as the Arbiter roughly grabbed his chin and forced him to meet his gaze, then struck him across the face hard enough to make his head spin when he tried to pull away. "We were one race before the war _you_ started…" Hands reached for his opened-up chest, stroking and caressing his scarred spark chamber, toying with him, flaunting the fact that his very life was in his hands, and could easily be taken at any moment. "Your brother speaks of unity. How blind he is, not to see the truth!" The taunting caresses stopped, replaced with a powerful grip that drew a quiet hiss of pain. "He sees both sides as two halves of one great whole, split in half and awaiting rejoining. Why can he not see that, in splitting, both halves became wholes in their own right? Peace, _true_ peace, will come when all are one. How can all be one when there are two?" The grip tightened until the walls of his spark chamber began to buckle, starting to cave in. Shudders of pure agony ran through him. "The only choice, then, is to _remove_ one of the two… and what group is more deserving of this than the group who caused the split in the first place?" Pain or not, Megatron's spark went cold. Surely the Arbiter couldn't be _that_ cruel… "Do you see, now, my grand solution? Each Decepticon who dies brings us one step closer to that blessed day, when all will _truly_ be one, for those who are part of the one will be all that remain!" Only two words came to Megatron then; words that, to him, were completely obvious. _"You're insane!" _The grip on his spark chamber abruptly tightened, crumpling the casing inward to a point just shy of fatal, multiplying his agony to the point where he could no longer hold back a cry of pain.

The Arbiter laughed at this, enjoying every minute. "My _original_ plan was to make an example of you, Megatron… After all, if my reach extends even to the mighty Lord High Protector himself, what chance would any other Decepticon stand if they sought to make trouble? They wouldn't _dare_ break the peace then! But then I realized that forced peace isn't real peace at all. The underlying sentiment would still be there, just waiting for an excuse to break out and run wild again. How could I destroy it once and for all? That was when Primus shone his light upon me and imparted upon his servant the _true_ solution. Ah, but it is so magnificently simple! How better to remedy a problem than to remove the cause?" Semiconscious, mind reeling from the pain, Megatron hung limp in his restraints, unable to even raise his head to meet his tormentor's gaze. "True peace… can never come… through death. True peace… is born… from life." He abruptly found himself spitting energon as a tremendously powerful blow just about broke his neck. "_How dare you speak of peace! _Of all the Decepticons, _you_ are the guiltiest by far!" Once again the Arbiter forced Megatron to meet his gaze. "That's why I have something _special_ in mind for _you_…You will suffer both first and last, for only after all the other Decepticons are wiped from the face of our fair world will I finally deign to kill you. After all, it's _your_ fault that they all have to die." This time he had no strength to pull away in defiance, no strength to resist in any way. "Even now my forces are massing in preparation, Megatron… The day will come soon, the blessed day when the Decepticons disappear forever! Imagine it… In the space of just a single night, our divine flame will cleanse the entire universe of your kind. A night of death and fear, then peace forever."

"The time… is now," Megatron forced out as Riptide entered. "My brother… _tell him_…" Rations forgotten for the moment, the Autobot took a step closer. "Megatron, what are you talking about? What brought this on?" Struggling to meet his gaze, he fought for the strength to explain. "The Arbiter… h-he's insane…" A cough shook his broken frame. "He's going to _kill_ them!… The Decepticons… all of them…" Riptide stepped backward upon hearing that. "He _what?_ This isn't what I signed up for! I signed on to _scare_ Decepticons, not _kill_ them!" Consciousness abruptly began to fade. "What have I _done?_" he murmured, vision swiftly dimming. Unwilling as ever to just surrender, he fought it with everything he had left. "It's up to you… F-forget about me. Just… go…" A grave nod came in reply. "I will," Riptide said in a low, dead serious voice, meaning those words with everything he had. He now knew that he'd been fooled. Indeed, all of them had. …Well, most of them, anyway. All the other members he knew were merely in it to scare the Decepticons out of trying anything funny ever again. _Killing_ them had never been part of the deal. Now that he knew the truth, he knew what he had to do.

"I'll go find your brother, Megatron; I promise. But first I…!" The last word dissolved into an ugly sound as the tip of an energy blade erupted from the center of his chest. Megatron's eyes went wide at the sight of this. _"Riptide!" _The Autobot in question was dead before he hit the ground, his dying collapse revealing the form that stood behind him, energy sword in hand. "Thus always to traitors," the Arbiter said with a smile. Shock and rage warred within Megatron's mind. "You… you _killed_ him!" Rage swiftly won out. "You know, Arbiter, you're right. You're _not_ like me, or my kind." Spitting hatefully, his next words were flat-out _roared. _"You're _worse!_" The Arbiter stiffened. "How _dare_ you compare me to _you!_" Struggling to get free and strangle his tormentor, Megatron snarled an explanation. "Those I killed were my enemies, but _you_… You killed an ally! In all my eons of warfare, I _never_ stooped that low. I threatened, sure, but did I actually _do_ it? _No! _Had Starscream called my bluff _even once_…" No reply came from the Arbiter, who had frozen where he stood in seeming horror, as if realizing what he had just done. However, that didn't last long. "…This was not my fault, but yours. Had you not turned him against me, making him into my enemy…" His voice lacked the certainty it had possessed earlier. Visibly flustered, he turned to leave the cell, but not before summoning two more guards to remove Riptide's lifeless body. "I'll be back for you later," he fired over his shoulder.

Zephyr fingered the inhibitor she still wore looped round her neck, wishing she could take it off without fear of what might occur after. It hurt so much, not being able to feel his presence… Optimus called her name, breaking her out of her reverie and returning her attention to the matter at hand. The war council had gathered and they were beginning to get preparations underway. Things weren't going nearly as fast as they would have gone had the Lord High Protector been there to rally them, but she supposed that was to be expected. Expectable as it was, that didn't do anything to lessen her frustration and anxiousness to get going. Each moment wasted was a moment Megatron had to spend suffering whatever tortures his captors chose to inflict upon him, and each moment lessened their chances of finding him alive. _He's going to be angry at how badly off the military was without him, _she thought. He'd never been one to place too much importance on any one individual, striving to make it so the military could continue functioning as a cohesive unit no matter what fate befell whoever was in command at that point. Shaking that thought off, she got down to business. _"All right, you want a plan? Well, listen up!" _

All eyes turned to her as she tried to mimic the powerful, commanding tones they were used to hearing. "We're dealing with supremacists, not soldiers. Once they see the lot of us, they'll probably panic. I'm willing to bet they'll probably try to run off, so I'm going to need the majority of the ground-based platoons to form a perimeter so none of them get away. The airborne squads will be providing air cover should it be needed, which it probably won't, so their main task will be to chase down and catch anyone who tries to fly off. I myself will lead the attack force in the primary assault on their home base, so the infiltration teams will all be following me." Looking at the other members of the war council, she prayed they would accept her attempt to put forth a plan.

"Now, it may take a little while to get the perimeter in place, as we have to do it without alerting them to the fact that we're planning something, but it shouldn't take more than a day or two if we bill it as camping out for some field training. I'm not too worried about the airborne units, as they can get there at a moment's notice, so their cover story will be practicing flying in formation. As for the infiltration teams, they'll be participating in field training too. I'm willing to bet they won't expect _me_ to be in on things, so I'll pretend to be in mourning, watching the airborne squads practice in order to take my mind off things. The signal to begin the operation will take the form of me flying up to join the jets. When you see me do that, that means it's time to go. Ground units, watch the jets. When the jets quit flying in formation, converge on the target area and get ready to keep an eye on the perimeter. Infiltration teams, don't bother waiting for me. Get started, and I'll join you just as soon as I can. The preparation required for this should, in all actuality, be minimal as long as everybody remembers that these 'field maneuvers' will be using fully charged weapons as opposed to not charged at all, as would normally be the case during practice. Optimus…" He looked surprised and confused as she turned to him.

"I know I have no authority to tell you to do much of anything, so bear with me because you have a part in this too." Rather than being offended at her trying to command him, he just nodded. "For my brother, I'd happily do pretty much anything!" She smiled in response, thanking him silently. "I'm going to need you to stand down the planet-wide alert status that was called when Megatron disappeared. The pretense for this will be that you're calling off the search since it didn't turn up anything. Make it seem as if you're giving up on trying to find him." Much as he didn't like the idea of even _pretending_ to give up on his brother, he nodded. "…So that's the plan," she said finally. This was it; the moment of truth. Would they listen to her? After a long moment of silence, they all nodded. "Good idea. We'll get on that. Field maneuvers and flight practice, huh?" A smile crossed her face. "Thank you…" It was then that Optimus spoke up. "When you and the infiltration teams storm the enemy base, I'll be right there beside you all the way. He's _my_ brother, after all, and there's no way in the Pit that I won't be in on this!"

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And here you see the true colors of the Hammer of Justice.

Read and review… or else!


	9. Descent

-1All right, here's the next part.

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All doubts were gone as the Arbiter entered, meeting Megatron's gaze. "My agenda hasn't changed," he said. "My plan is to keep you alive until all the other Decepticons are dead, making you suffer all the while, but perhaps I can be convinced to end your pain before that. You know the four words I want to hear you say. Say 'I want to die' and perhaps I'll have mercy on you and end your pain… and your life." Calmly meeting his enemy's gaze, he grinned. "In that case I hope you packed a lunch, as Zephyr would put it. Because we're going to be at this a long time… a _very_ long time indeed!" Rather than being angry in any way, the Arbiter grinned back. "I was actually hoping you'd say that. After all, I've got all night!" He reached into his robes. "Besides, I think I have your measure now…"

Withdrawing something, he held it out for Megatron to see. It looked kind of like a smaller version of a shock stick, but it was different… "You recognize this, don't you? It's called a scrambler. It's designed to stimulate the pain subroutines in any part of the body it touches." He caressed it almost lovingly. "Its settings can be altered at will, tailoring the amount of pain delivered to the desires of its wielder. At its strongest, it's said to be powerful enough to burn out a victim's spark if it's left in place long enough." Megatron couldn't quite hide the feeling of dismay taking shape in his mind. "The touch of two shock sticks made you submit to judgment. I wonder, what effect will _this_ have?" A moment later, he raised the scrambler, switched it on and touched it to his victim's chest.

The sound of arcing electricity filled the air and Megatron shuddered, a rough, wavering hiss escaping his clenched jaws. There was no way he would give his enemy the pleasure of hearing him scream. "I can see your will is strong… Ah yes, you haven't changed a bit. But mark my words, I _will_ break you; and the time it takes to do that will only make the end result that much more satisfying!" Adjusting the settings, increasing the output, he ran the scrambler's tip along the outside of his victim's thigh, drawing a growl that held no anger, only pain. Rough gasps held defiant words. "Y-you won't… win…" The Arbiter pulled back. "Oh really?" Increasing the output again, he brushed the scrambler against the sides of the opening in his chest that had laid his spark chamber bare. Stiffening, Megatron couldn't help but pull at his chains with surprising power as his body reacted to the pain, limbs struggling vainly to pull inward in self-defense. Another, louder growl escaped him. The Arbiter pulled back again and he went limp, panting harshly. "M-my brother… He'll… stop you… Stop your crazy scheme…" This feeble assertion drew a smug smile. "Your brother? I assure you, by the time he figures out what's going on, it will be far too late to stop what's coming!" Struggling to catch his breath and recover from the blasts of pain being sent through him, Megatron couldn't manage a response to that statement. "He'll be too late to save them… just like he'll be too late to save _you!_"

Stepping out of the temporary barracks erected for the fake field maneuvers, Zephyr looked to the sky in agitation. All around her soldiers were unloading supplies and weapons from transports of various sizes before forming up and preparing to begin the maneuvers that would eventually spread out far enough to encircle all of Kaon. Some would practice marching drills, some would have mock battles, some would practice with artillery… Various cover stories were already in place. In the center of all this, where everyone involved in the operation could see them clearly, the aerial squads would practice flying in formation. It would be another day or so before they could begin the actual operation. She only prayed that Megatron would be all right, that he could hang on that long. Doubts nagged in the back of her mind. They could very well be too late, she realized. Was he already dead? Would it be a lifeless shell they would find when they finally stormed the enemy base? She tried to drive those thoughts from her mind, but they would not be driven away, nor would they be silenced. He was strong both in body and mind, not likely to give in to anything for any reason, but sheer willpower could only carry him so far. _What are they doing to you, Megatron? _She fingered the inhibitor she wore for what had to be the billionth time, once again wishing she could remove it without fear. _What have you had to suffer through since our bond was severed? _A shiver ran through her frame at the very thought of losing him. _Primus, please, don't take him from me_…

_He's right, _Megatron realized. _I can't count on my brother_… _can't count on anybody but myself. _He didn't know if he had the strength to attempt to escape, but he knew he had to try. When the pain came again he poured all his strength into the convulsion that ripped through him until he both felt and heard the chains at his wrists and ankles break free of their moorings. This thoroughly surprised the Arbiter, whose immediate response was to back off a little bit. Megatron was free now, free to do as he pleased to his tormentor… unless repeated torture had succeeded in weakening him to the point where he wouldn't be a threat. He stood where he had previously hung by his wrists, trembling from the effort, eyes hazy with pain. Now that he was free, the damage he'd taken showed up clear as day. Splintered armor glittered as broken limbs shuddered, streaked and smeared with dried energon. Whatever armor remained whole was covered with dents of varying sizes, until every movement made his body sparkle like sunlight on rippling water. Out of breath from the effort it had taken to break free, he panted harshly. A moment later, he took a shaky step forward… only for his legs to give out beneath him, sending him crashing to the ground. _"No!" _Face down on the floor in a huddled mess, he feebly struggled to rise, rough gasps for air shaking his whole body at the effort and pain of it all. A moment later, he reached out with one shaky hand to literally _drag_ himself forward, not about to surrender even though he was too weak to even crawl away.

The Arbiter grinned as he realized that his victim was no threat to him. "Your will is very strong indeed, Megatron…" Taking a step closer to the struggling Decepticon, he smirked as he kicked him straight in the face. Raising a weak hand in a futile attempt to protect himself, he recoiled slightly with a snarl. "I can see I'll need to step up my efforts to break you." A second sharp kick served to turn Megatron over onto his back, broken limbs splayed limply as he stared up at the ceiling, mind whirling with pain and dread. The Arbiter's face blurred into his field of view, causing him to realize just how precarious his current position was. He would have recoiled had he had the strength to move as the Arbiter knelt over him, scrambler in hand, reaching out to touch it to his spark chamber. Back arching painfully, anything but in control of his actions at that point, he couldn't hold back a strained, breathless cry. Shaking his head weakly, it took every ounce of willpower he had to silence himself, but he managed. "Ah. Perhaps it isn't so much your willpower as your pride that sustains you in the face of my ministrations…" The chuckle that followed that statement caused Megatron no small amount of dread. "And that gives me an idea."

The jets wheeled and turned overhead in picture-perfect formation under Zephyr's watchful gaze. Restless and uncertain, she silently waited for the right time to come. Today was the day, the day of the operation. The signal would come any time now. In her mind, it couldn't come fast enough. Almost in tune with that thought, a series of signals came over the secure link she had been monitoring just for that purpose. One by one, the various squadrons arrayed around Kaon called in, reporting their readiness to begin. A smile took shape as she slowly stood up. Looking around at all the soldiers around her, she felt all eyes turn to her. The tension in the air built exponentially as she crouched down and leapt straight upward. As she transformed and rocketed upward, the tension around her broke as each and every soldier got down to business. _At last, it's time!_

Megatron shuddered as the Arbiter, rather than continuing to apply the scrambler directly to his spark chamber, turned his attention elsewhere. "I may not be able to break your will, but I _can_ break your pride!" A series of agonizing touches from the scrambler, slowly moving along his body, alerted him to what his tormentor was planning. The thought of that broke him. "No… _No! _You… you _can't_…" The Arbiter grinned, deactivating the scrambler as he scooted over, snickering at his desperation as he traced little circles on the chosen target area. "I can and I will!" Then he thrust the scrambler into his victim, driving it in as deep as he could force it. Megatron cried out in outraged agony as he felt it enter him, pushed in so far that he thought his internal wiring was surely being forced out of alignment. Then, _oh Primus_… The scrambler began to move, in and out, brushing up against sensitive circuitry with every pass. His breathing swiftly roughened as his body reacted, instantly and without hesitation, sickening sensations flooding him. "No… Primus, _no_… S-stop it… _Stop_…" A chuckle came in response. _"Never!" _The scrambler's movement quickened and he trembled at the waves of disgust crashing through his traitorous body, gasping for air from the strain of trying so hard to fight it. His fingers twitched as he fought in vain for the strength to push his tormentor off him. "Well! From the look of things, you must be enjoying yourself." Shaking his head weakly, he tried to voice a denial but the only sound to escape him was a low moan. It was building inside him, he could feel it, a feeling far worse than pain… Dredging up one last burst of strength from somewhere deep in his spark, he managed to raise his arms, shoving the Arbiter away. The scrambler stayed where it was, and he wished for the strength to remove it. He'd bought himself a short little reprieve, a few seconds at best, but he had a feeling that he had nothing left, no strength to fight back or resist in any way. The Arbiter didn't know it but he could feel death coming, stealing slowly upon him in the wake of the torment he had been forced to endure. He would die for certain if this continued much longer, and he knew it. Speaking of the Arbiter… He was back in the scene, standing over his now motionless body. "You're only making this harder on yourself. Now you must be punished!" With that, he reached down to where the scrambler still rested, grabbed it and thrust it upward hard enough to draw a soft cry… then turned it on. _"No!" _That long, drawn-out cry was more a howl of torment than an actual word as his back arched almost double, uncontrolled convulsions ripping through him. Nothing existed except the pain, his mind something approximating blank. Through it all, the Arbiter continued to thrust the scrambler in as deep as it would go, twisting it cruelly all the while. "Take it! _Yes, take it, you half-clocked scrap pile!_" Megatron could feel his circuitry beginning to cook under the relentless electrical assault, insulation melting and wires fusing in the searing heat, his innards swiftly charring, blackening, _frying_… All of a sudden, it ended as the scrambler was wrenched free. In its wake he clung desperately to both consciousness and life in equal measure, his grip on both weakening slowly but surely. The Arbiter's next words barely registered in his dazed mind. "That'll do, for now. I want to keep you for a while longer, after all." The only response Megatron could manage at that point was to cough out a smallish cloud of smoke from his badly burned internal circuitry, and to shudder slightly. He would live a little longer, but the next 'session' would surely be his last… and he found himself almost welcoming that possibility.

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Interpret that in whatever way you please.


	10. It's always darkest

-1Here it comes…

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Just then, a huge explosion shook literally everything, deafening the both of them as the lights abruptly flickered, barely staying on. The floor shook, nearly throwing the Arbiter off his feet and jolting Megatron's broken limbs, drawing a soft hiss from him. He was starting to pass beyond the reach of pain, gradually beginning to leave everything behind. It took a bit of concentration, but he managed to push the growing haze aside enough to hear the Arbiter talking into his communicator. "…_What? _How did he find us?" This drew Megatron's full attention. "At this rate my plans will be ruined! Curse Prime… He spends eons fighting Decepticons, only to save the lot of them when it comes time for them to face their sins? And here I thought he was all about justice! Primus, what a farce!"

Those few words drove all thoughts of death from his mind. _My brother_… _here? _That settled it. The end was in sight; all he had to do was cling to life a little bit longer and the pain would end, he would survive and see Zephyr again… "Well, I can think of at least _one_ Decepticon he'll fail to save!" Well, _that_ was a bad sign if he'd ever encountered one. A moment later the Arbiter was back in his blurry field of view, scrambler once again in hand. "It's said that the highest setting on these things is powerful enough to literally burn out a victim's spark. Let's see if it's true, shall we?" Carefully adjusting the settings to their absolute maximum output, he roughly pressed the scrambler's tip up against Megatron's already heavily damaged spark chamber and switched it on.

He would have gone into convulsions had he still had the strength to do so. As it was, his head fell back as he clenched his jaw as hard as he could, trying vainly to keep silent. A choked cry escaped him as he felt life fleeing from his broken body, being driven out by the wicked, seemingly unending blast of electricity ripping through him. The ceiling and the Arbiter's face blurred above him as he shivered, claws twitching feebly as he tried and failed to find enough strength to fight back. Consciousness flickered, his thoughts slowing and growing dimmer even as he clung to life. Beyond the relentless buzz of the electricity ravaging every inch of his frame he could just barely hear the distant sound of people shouting and running, weapons being fired, not too far off and coming closer… _Hurry, Optimus_… _Please_… _Hurry_… That thought seemed almost to echo in the growing darkness that filled his mind, his vision dimming, slowly fading out… _I'm_… _going to_… He knew he had only one chance left to at least _try_ to save himself, one hope to survive this, and that was to somehow alert his brother to his location before it was too late. And to the best of his knowledge, there was only one way for him to do that. Gathering what little remained of his strength, taking as deep a breath as his broken armor would allow, he waited for the Arbiter to push harder on his spark chamber, then channeled the pain that act produced as he disregarded his pride and threw everything he had left into the loudest, most throat-rending shriek of pain and suffering he could have possibly imagined.

Zephyr and Optimus turned as one at the sound of a truly terrible scream. Laden with incredible pain and suffering, it was a desperate plea for help from someone, anyone, and though the voice was rough and shrill, it was also familiar… _"Megatron!" _Neither was sure which of them shouted that, but they didn't care as they turned as one to face in the direction the sound had come from and took off sprinting as fast as they could go. Both prayed frantically for the Decepticon's sake as the scream they'd heard died away, leaving echoes in its wake, echoes that mocked them and filled them with fear as they faded into a thoroughly chilling silence. Would they arrive in time to save him? Would he be beyond saving by the time they reached him? "Spare him, Primus, _please_…" All pleas stopped as they rounded a corner pretty much in unison and stopped dead in their tracks, filled with equal parts horror and disgust at the sight that lay before them.

A cloaked figure knelt over a thoroughly mangled wreck, inserting something unseen into an opened-up chest despite the sound of sizzling and the black smoke streaming forth. Broken, energon-stained limbs shuddered as thick ropes of blue-white electricity scoured shattered armor. Claws curled into weak fists and legs kicked slightly as the victim of the brutal ongoing electrocution still tried to fight despite all this. The head was thrown back in a scream silenced by incredible pain, emitting only a series of wavering gasps. What little armor wasn't coated with spilled energon or fractured to the point of being nearly unrecognizable sparkled with every feeble twitch, showing its original color… _silver._

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Like I said, review… or else!


	11. Before the dawn

-1Sorry I took so long to get this part up. I hope this'll make up for the cliffhanger I left you guys with.

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The sound that came from Zephyr in that moment defied all description in any language. Bodily slamming into the figure tormenting her beloved, she sent the both of them rolling before proceeding to beat him into the ground. The scrambler was sent flying across the room, sparking all the way, giving Optimus both a good look at it and an idea as to what he'd walked in on. "Megatron…" Hazy crimson eyes struggled to focus on him for a long moment before the half-dead Decepticon voiced his recognition with a feeble attempt to speak his name. "What have they _done_ to you, Brother?" Off to the side, Zephyr was proving herself to be far fiercer than her husband as she continued shredding what little remained of the Arbiter. She'd already killed him several minutes ago, and now she was merely taking out her pent-up frustration on his remains, lost in the most powerful rage she had ever experienced. What little remained swiftly became unrecognizable, leaving her to stomp a pile of metal fragments into the ground before she finally felt she'd inflicted enough punishment on the one who had dared to harm her husband. Finally returning to herself, rage fading away enough to allow other thoughts to enter her mind, she remembered what had brought her to that moment. She was kneeling at Megatron's side in an instant, taking his battered hand in her own. Both were smiling now, weeping in relief and joy at finally being reunited. "At last…" Optimus smiled at the joy his brother was feeling, and at the sheer relief he felt at finding him alive. Blue lightning blossomed between them, mending the worst of the damage and easing his pain. She reached up to remove the inhibitor… only to have Optimus stop her. "_Don't, _Zephyr," he said. "Not yet. In his current condition, the shock could very well kill him." She obediently left the inhibitor where it was, even though both she and Megatron ached to renew the bond.

Having had what basically amounted to a premonition, Ratchet entered at a light jog, equipment in hand, and immediately pushed Zephyr aside to get to work. Stepping backward, she had only one question. "How did you know you would be needed here?" He didn't so much as cast a glance her way. "I knew he had to be in a world of hurt, judging from what went on with you before the link broke. So basically _you_ tipped me off." Pausing, he withdrew a small container of energon and helped the fallen Decepticon to drink. "…I didn't know when you last got any, so I decided to play it safe and just give you some now." Megatron gave a small, weak smile and managed three words. "Thank… you… Ratchet…" The medic returned his smile. "Try not to talk. Just save your strength."

Zephyr had taken care of the worst of the damage, so it didn't take Ratchet all that long to get him to the point where he could be moved safely. Megatron spent every moment of the trip back to safety gazing at Zephyr, and she at him, as if each was afraid to let the other out of their sight for even a moment, lest they slip away again. The unintentional jostling of broken limbs had to cause no small amount of pain, but the weak smile he wore never faded, not even for a moment. For her part, she never left his line of sight. To everyone's eyes, Zephyr almost seemed as though she was coming back to life. It made sense, given the bond she shared with the recently liberated Decepticon. She'd described it in terms of a certain type of avian creature from the planet that had given her birth… Lovebirds, they were called. If a lovebird lost its mate, the remaining bird would lose all will to live and meet a fairly swift end. Thinking on it, they could all see that she had been well on her way to doing just that. Had they failed to save Megatron, they would have lost her too. Everyone present simultaneously sent up a prayer of thanks to Primus.

"You _do, _of course, realize that you ruined any and all hope we had of finding out who the Arbiter was, don't you?" Zephyr looked up upon hearing that and found herself staring at the head of the security force, a rather uptight fellow by the name of Prowl. A half-smile found its way onto her face. "Yes, I know that. Don't I seem like the _last_ person who'd be unaware of that fact? Remind me to pretend to care at some point, will you? Besides, what does it matter, now that he's dead? I doubt he can cause us any more trouble now." Fuming in a manner she found almost humorous, he then turned and walked off.

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I don't know when I'll add more, but at least this isn't as suspenseful…


	12. Home at last

-1Holy cow, this update took longer than I thought…

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The miffed security officer had offered her a moment's amusement, but that was all as she turned uncaringly back to her beloved. Laying her hand upon his cheek, she helped him raise his head long enough for a brief yet undeniably passionate kiss. So great, in fact, was the passion behind that short, chaste kiss that all present immediately looked away, feeling as though they were intruding upon the most intimate of moments. Each and every person in the group taking part in the triumphant return to their home city could just about _feel_ the love each had for the other; not mere quiet affection but the fiercest, most fiery cascade of emotions any of them could imagine. Here was a pair who would accept no other… indeed, who _could_ accept no other. No one could come between them; they would love none save each other as long as they both lived. And when one died, the other would without a doubt follow swiftly.

"_**DADDY!" **_A high-pitched squeal of utter delight filled the room as they entered, heralding the swift arrival of a small blue-armored child sprinting as fast as his little legs could take him. "Galvie," Megatron managed as the young Decepticon did his level best to catapult himself onto his father's lap. Scooping him out of midair, Zephyr caught him in her arms. "Not now, little one. Daddy needs to sleep," she said to the angrily squalling child. Galvie, for his part, couldn't have cared less if he tried. No, he wanted to see his father, and he wanted to see him _now. _

Galvie tried to sneak into the repair bay almost constantly after that, and no one could get him to stop. Time and again Ratchet would remove him, only to have him turn right around and try again. Even locking the doors didn't stop him. Everyone involved lost count of the number of tries around fifty, and would have marveled at the child's tenacity had they not been so frustrated with him. It didn't help much that Zephyr was in there too, leaving the kid with his increasingly exasperated uncle, who was trying everything he could think of to distract the kid from the fact that he wasn't where his parents were.

Fully repaired or not, it was clear to all that Megatron would need a fairly significant amount of time to recover fully. Repairs could only do so much and the effects of severe energon deprivation couldn't be repaired anyway. Lacking the strength to do much else and not exactly in the best shape anyway, Megatron would spend the first night or so in the repair bay, wired to a fair-sized array of machines to monitor his vital functions. Energon deprivation as severe as what he had suffered wasn't easily shrugged off, after all. His systems had been pushed to the brink of total collapse, and he was still in great danger. That fact mattered little to Megatron himself, and to Zephyr. They had all the time in the world, in their minds. All that mattered was that they were both safe, and they were together again. She'd pulled up a seat beside the bed where he rested, refusing to leave his side for so much as a moment no matter how tired she was, and she was very tired.

Ratchet, for his part, was downright irritated at Zephyr's stubborn refusal to leave her beloved's side for any reason. It wasn't as if she was doing herself any favors, after all. "For crying out loud, Zephyr, go sleep!" His glare was returned with equal intensity. "I won't leave him!" Frustrated enough to go into an arm-waving conniption fit, he all but barked at her. "There's a bed over there, on the other side of the room. If anything happens, you'll be just a few steps away from him, tops. I'm not in the mood to deal with _two_ patients right now, so _go sleep!_" Though he was smaller than her, the force of his anger took her aback as it always did. _No one _pissed off the medic. It just wasn't done… not by anyone remotely sane, anyway. Not bothering to protest, she stood and headed for the bed he had indicated, obediently lying down. In no time at all she was fast asleep, finally getting some decent rest. Ratchet turned his attention to Megatron. "And _you, _quit squirming. Don't make me sedate you because, believe me, I will." The Decepticon simply nodded. He knew Ratchet would do it if he felt he had to. Turning away, the medic quietly grumbled to himself. Maybe now he could get some sleep.

Zephyr dreamed, and her dreams were a turbulent jumble of memories, thoughts and feelings concerning the whole ordeal she and her beloved had been put through, and concerning the preceding day in particular. So much had happened… So many horrible things had come to pass, but were finally finished… She had him back, and that was all that mattered, yet still the thought of what had happened troubled her greatly. How could anyone be that cruel? That thought quickly left her mind, chased away by her changing dreams… She dreamed of a body sliding into bed beside her, of warm arms encircling her and gentle fingers reaching up to the inhibitor she wore, removing it. Then _he_ was there, in her mind and spark, eagerly reaching out, soaking in her presence as parched earth would soak up rain. So too did she bask in his, and both felt as though they were coming back to life. /'Zephyr, I…'/ She hushed him like a mother soothing a frightened child. /'It's all right. I'm here now.'/ Greatly calmed by her words, he mentally snuggled up closer to her. /'…I missed you.'/ Accepting his love, she showered him with her own. /'I missed you too.'/ Happy and content, both of them settled down for a nice long rest.

The sound of blaring alarms, audible only to him, awakened Ratchet with a violent start as he practically levitated straight up out of his bed. Those alarms were only meant to go off if the patient they were connected to suffered the most catastrophic of system failures. Why? Why had he gone off to sleep when he was still needed so badly? Immediately vowing to make up for that and then some, he bolted out of his room and ran back to the repair bay just as fast as his legs could take him. Throwing the door open, tripping through and practically landing on his face in his hurry, he looked to where Megatron had been lying. It was then that he saw that the alarms on the monitors were going off for good reason… they were no longer connected to anything. "That little… Where did he go?"

A moment of looking around revealed the answer, for he saw that there were _two_ people in Zephyr's bed. Stepping closer, he saw that Zephyr was lying on her back, much as he had left her, but at some point Megatron had joined her. Now the Decepticon lay with his head nestled against her shoulder, one arm draped across her chest as he clasped her other shoulder and held her to him. Weak as his fingers may have been, there was no mistaking a death grip, and… was he trembling? A closer look revealed that he was indeed trembling like a frightened child as he clung to his beloved. What came next was natural… he went and got a blanket, then spread it over the two of them. A smile crossed his face when he saw Megatron relax, his nightmares banished by the comforting warmth, and it only grew when a scan revealed that the Decepticon's previously erratic vitals were better than ever. In that moment, he decided not to scold him for his actions when he woke up. He wouldn't disturb the two, either. Megatron was right where he needed to be, after all. Turning away, he left the room to head back to bed. All was well, he was sure of it.

He didn't see the pair of eyes that watched him leave, or the shadowy form that quietly snuck in behind him. Silent and stealthy as could be, the intruder entered the repair bay and looked around before spotting the reason he had come… the two lovers snuggled on the bed over in the corner. Slow, careful footsteps brought him closer to the pair, both of whom were completely oblivious. There was nothing to stop him as he drew closer to his goal. This was going to be good, so good… He'd waited so long, and now his reluctant patience and cunning were going to pay off. A grin crossed his face, and then he struck. Two startled yelps later, Galvie cooed happily as he snuggled up to his parents.

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Fear the cute! Fear it, I say!


	13. A dire gift

-1Holy cow, an update! I'm sorry it took so long, folks.

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From that point onward, Megatron's recovery was swift. After all, how could it not be, with his mate and son by his side? That was all that mattered to him, and to Zephyr, though they both kept close watch on the trials of those they had apprehended during the raid of the Hammer of Justice's headquarters. It was somehow less than a surprise to learn just how few had known the true extent of the Arbiter's plans… in effect, none at all. Each one had been given the same instructions: kill five Decepticons, and speak to no one about their assignment. Given their numbers, they would have been able to eradicate the remaining Decepticons completely without even realizing they were doing anything more than spreading fear. All of them, each and every one, were horrified to hear the true extent of their leader's ambition, and to a proverbial man they swore they had joined merely to scare, not to kill. Megatron had been anticipating this, as such had been the next-to-last words to come from the ill-fated Riptide before the Arbiter killed him.

It came as a surprise to Megatron when, several weeks and a full recovery later, Zephyr was summoned to the planet's core, presumably to speak to Primus. It wasn't a surprise to hear it from somebody else, however, since once summoned there was no time to do anything else. But what reason would Primus have to speak to her at that point? To his knowledge there was no danger to be on guard against, no threat to any of them or their world. He supposed he'd just have to ask Zephyr when she returned. And indeed, there she was, strolling down the hallway toward him, smiling gently. "Hello there," he said to her. "What did Primus have to say?" Her smile only brightened. "Oh, he wanted to give me a reward for the things I've done and the danger I've faced… Only he worded it better than that. Verbal semantics aside, just look!" With that, her whole body abruptly blazed with blue fire, so bright he had to shield his eyes and look away to avoid being blinded. When he looked back, a _human_ form stood before him… not Zephyr, but Sarah. "He gave me the ability to return to the shape I was born in, and to go back home as I see fit. And I do believe I'm going to do just that. Travel to Earth for a little while, get caught up on what's been going on there lately, maybe visit an old friend or two…" It was then that he interrupted. "Say no more, my darling. I know how it is. I too longed for home many times during our stay on Earth." Returning to being Zephyr, she embraced him and they shared a passionate kiss before she pulled away and turned to leave.

She came in the night, with no one the wiser, her jet form passing low over the buildings of Mission City with thrusters silenced, unseen and unheard by those below her. Transforming even as she descended, she chose a secluded alley to land in and took on her human form. At last she had returned home. Stepping forward into the city street, she marveled at how everything… meeting Megatron, taking part in an alien war, becoming effectively a queen on an alien world… suddenly felt like a dream she had just awakened from. Yes, it was all too easy to begin to believe that the past six years of her life had never happened, as if she had never been anything but Sarah Hornsby. So deep in thought was she that she failed to notice the oncoming car until it was almost upon her, headlights blinding her as her eyes widened in growing fear, the sound of the horn an unending blast ringing in her ears, and she barely had a moment to catch a glimpse of the car's driver before she was struck and sent to the ground, her head striking the pavement with a sharp crack that made her vision go white. As consciousness fled, her dimming eyes saw the car back up a little, then swerve around her and drive off. _A hit and run, _she thought dazedly. _Of all the freaking stupid ways to die. After all I've done, facing Starscream, Galvatron, Unicron, Death comes for me in the form of a simple car on a city street_…

A galaxy away, Megatron bolted up in his bed, a spasm of sudden, nameless fear shaking him to his very core. On his feet in an instant, he took off running to find his brother. Sprinting as fast as both legs and fear could take him, he didn't so much as pause until he reached his goal. "Optimus," he panted, eyes wide with growing dread. "Something's happened to Zephyr."

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And finally, the end to this installment! Oh no, is she dead? Wait and see, my friends… The next installment shouldn't take nearly as long.


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